In case you didn’t know, Harmony has an abundance of Joneses. This varietal of Jones has migrated to our fair state from south of the Mason-Dixon line, bringing with them a wonderful and refreshing Southern energy. If you haven’t run into them yet, here’s what you can look forward to:
Brian & Susan (Sigman) Jones
After selling his business in 2015, it was obvious change was in the air and a move away from Sarasota would ensue. So, like anyone with an unusual preoccupation with Excel, Brian and Susan put together a spreadsheet that laid out the pros and cons each candidate-city presented. Even though Timnath wasn’t on the list, it would eventually win out over Fort Collins, Austin, Asheville, and Nashville.
Anyone who’s spent a day with a realtor looking at homes in Fort Collins knows just how uniquely different it feels to drive into Harmony. After a disappointing tour of traditional urban-dense neighborhoods with expensive older homes, they took a breather. To clear their heads, Brian and Susan drove east and spotted a golf course on the horizon – the rest is Jones history.
While southern hospitality is certainly a “thing,” both Brian and Susan are consistently surprised by Colorado’s laid-back version of warmth and inclusion. No more keeping up with the Joneses – after all, they are the Joneses. Although our local indifference to a Saturday dedicated to college football and the rather undeveloped native bourbon offering was alarming at first, they have definitely adapted. Susan found a professional home with Semester at Sea, and Brian found a home on the golf course (apparently, he never really leaves Harmony, check the odometer on his Jeep).
We will probably need to keep an eye on them this winter – as move-in projects dwindle, and cold weather golf makes an impact on round counts per week, Brian might need to learn about skiing . . .
Doug & Susan Jones
No loopy typo, there really are two Susan Joneses living on Ridgeline Drive these days. “Did you mean the other Susan?” should be printed on tee shirts we gave as move-in gifts for these ladies.
Relocation for career was the driver for Doug and Susan to make Colorado their home after starting a family in Atlanta. While both began their lives as Yankees, they migrated south during their early teenaged years and eventually met during the college years – he at Vanderbilt, she at Georgia State. Being part of the northern diaspora, they were an easy complement to one another and the adventure began.
The phrase, “mid-career” sums up a particular season of life that’s full to the brim with commitments, opportunity, obligations and unknowns. With two teenaged boys in tow and apparent boundless enthusiasm, Susan and those boys found Harmony one snowy grey winter day late in 2015. Not unlike the other Jones’ experience surveying the local real estate scene, they determined Harmony was the spot, landing on a mid-construction spec home delivered by a Harmony preferred custom builder. It should be noted that Doug, very wisely, deferred the construction and relocation process to Susan and kept his nose to the proverbial grindstone, coming up for air randomly on the occasional facetime conference. Truth be told, about the only thing the home needed to satisfy Doug’s wish list was space to store his hunting equipment – that, and indoor plumbing.
About a year in, the Harmony transplant has gone very well. There’s trails to hike and roads to run for Susan, both boys consider themselves Colorado natives determined never to leave, and Doug, well he’s just trying to learn to speak mule deer for the upcoming season. They’ve barely scratched the surface of possibilities; even if SEC Saturdays are a nostalgic recollection of weekends past, if you squint Mountain West Conference ball still looks like football.